Two journalists with the Nigerian based The Punch Newspaper, Tunde Ajaja and Damilola Olufemi, shone at the 2023 PwC Nigeria awards.
A former Punch journalist, Alfred Olufemi was also among the journalists who stole the show at the event.
Also, another journalist with The PUNCH, Sami Olatunji, was shortlisted in the Finance and Capital Markets Reporting and Business and Economy Reporting categories.
While Ajaja emerged as the first runner-up in the Tax and Fiscal Policy category, Alfred and Damilola emerged second runner-up in the Finance & Capital Markets Reporting and Sustainability Reporting, respectively.
Ajaja emerged the first runner-up via his piece, ‘How wasteful spending, poor tax net drag Nigeria into mega debit (I & II)’, while Alfred emerged third with his piece, ‘Toxic chemicals pollute rivers, threaten lives, livelihoods in Oyo communities (I & II); Damilola, a graduate of Public Administration from Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, won with an investigation ‘How transnational investment firm swindled Nigerians, others of over $3m (I & II)’.
Ajaja, in 2022 won the Tax & Fiscal Policy category through his piece titled ‘Legal battle over VAT collection stirs debates on equity, fiscal federalism (I & II).’
Damilola, who was formerly on the Investigation Desk of this paper, in August 2023, won the Sanlam Group Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism, South Africa.
The PwC Media Excellence Awards celebrates and rewards excellence in business reporting in Nigeria.
The award judges include Taiwo Oyedele, Andrew Nevin, Dr Glory Edozien, and Cyril Stober.
The 2023 edition award, which doubled as the 8th edition, featured six categories – Tax & Fiscal Policy Reporting, Finance & Capital Markets Reporting, SMEs Reporting, Business & Economy Reporting, Special Investigative Reporting, and Sustainability Reporting.
Earlier in his comment, Country Senior Partner, PwC Nigeria Uyi Akpata, noted, “Over the past decade, our twin media initiatives have yielded several key outcomes, including enhancing the quality and increasing the volume of impactful, rigorous business stories published annually.
“Announcing this year’s call for submissions demonstrates our commitment towards sustaining these outcomes and supporting Nigerian journalists to continue producing excellence in business journalism.”
